Implicate and explicate order: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:35, 16 July 2005

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Bohm’s proposals have, somewhat ironically, often been dismissed either largely or entirely on the basis of such presuppositions, apparently without due consideration for, and scrutiny of, the inherent challenges presented by his contestations.

Bohm’s [[paradigm]] is inherently antithetical to [[reductionism]], in most forms, and accordingly can be regarded as a form of [[ontological]] [[holism]]. On this, Bohm noted of prevailing views among physicists: "the world is assumed to be constituted of a set of separately existent, indivisible and unchangeable 'elementary particles', which are the fundamental 'building blocks' of the entire universe … there seems to be an unshakable faith among physicists that either such particles, or some other kind yet to be discovered, will eventually make possible a complete and coherent explanation of everything" (Bohm, 1980, p. 173).

In Bohm’s conception of order, then, '''primacy''' is given to the undivided whole, and the implicate order inherent within the whole, rather than to 'parts' of the whole, such as particles, quantum states, and continua. The whole encompasses all [[things]], [[structures]], abstractions and [[processes]], including processes that result in (relatively) stable structures as well as those that involve metamorphosis of structures or things. Importantly, parts may be [[entities]] normally regarded as [[physical]], such as [[atoms]] or sub-atomic [[particles]], but they may also be [[abstract]] entities, such as quantum states. Whatever their nature and character, these parts are considered ''in terms of'' the whole, and in such terms, they constitute ''relatively'' autonomous and independent "sub-totalities". The '''implication''' is that nothing is ''entirely'' separate or autonomous.

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==A common grounding for consciousness and matter==

The proposed Implicate Order is a general [[metaphysical]] order in tems of which matter and consciousness may both be understood, in the sense that it is proposed that both matter and consciousness: (i) enfold the structure of the whole within each region, and (ii) involve continuous processes of enfoldment and unfoldment. For example, in the case of matter, entities such as atoms may represent continous enfoldment and unfoldment which manifests as a relatively stable and autonomous entity which follows a path in space-time. In the case of consciousness, Bohm points toward evidence presented by [[Karl PilbramPribram]] that memories may be enfolded within every region of the brain rather than being localized (for example in cells or atoms). Bohm (1980, p. 205) goes on to say: "As in our discussion of matter in general, it is now necessary to go into the question of how in consciousness the explicate order is what is manifest ... the manifest content of consciousness is based essentially on memory, which is what allows such content to be held in a failry constant form. Of course, to make possible such constancy it is also necessary that this content be organized, not only through relatively fixed assocation but also with the aid of the rules of logic, and of our basic categories of space, time causality, universality, etc. ... there will be a strong background of recurrent stable, and separable features, against which the transitory and changing aspects of the unbroken flow of experience will be seen as fleeting impressions that tend to be arranged and ordered mainly in terms of the vast totality of the relatively static and fragmented content of [memories]". Bohm also notes that "as with consciousness, each moment has a certain explicate order, and in addition it enfolds all the others, though in its own way. So the relationship of each moment in the whole to all the others is implied by its total content: the way in which it 'holds' all the others enfolded within it". Bohm characterises consciousness as a process in which at each moment, content that was previously implicate is presently explicate, and content which was previously explicate has become implicate, in an analogous fashion to the ink droplet. He said: "One may indeed say that our memory is a special case of the process described above, for all that is recorded is held enfolded within the brain cells and these are part of matter in general. The recurrence and stability of our own memory is a relatively independent sub-totality is thus brought about as part of the very same process that sustains the recurrence and stability in the manifest order of matter in general. It follows, then, that the explicate and manifest order of consciousness is not ultimately distinct from that of matter in general" (Bohm, 1980, p. 208).

==Quantum entanglement==